Reference no: EM133292571

Case: Do I have to tell?

Maria Duritzski, a 44 year-old manager responsible for supervising 8 employees in the Payroll Department, has been employed by BuyMart for 8 years. She currently earns $93,000 and received her B.Comm. 21 years ago. Duritzski is a good performer (average score of 3.9 on the company's performance appraisal form last year where 1 = unsatisfactory and 5 = outstanding performance). This put her in the top 30% of BuyMart managers. While BuyMart has regular training programs, the topics have not addressed employee fraud.

Six months ago, Maria attended a two-day training program (on employee engagement) for BuyMart managers. After one of the sessions, Maria and two other managers went out for dinner. After the meal, other two managers (who worked in the operations and inventory management departments) revealed to Maria that they had developed a scheme in which they wrote off supplies / inventory as waste but actually kept the supplies / materials and sold them to a friend at a discount. As one of the individuals said, "We're not talking about big money, Maria. However, I'm sure you could use an extra $150 to $200 a week. After all, we are underpaid and overworked, and our salaries haven't kept pace with inflation."

Three weeks later, an auditor uncovered the scheme and the two managers directly involved in the scheme were fired. Evidence revealed that each of the managers had written off about $26,000 over a three-and-a-half year period. While the audit confirmed that no other management personnel were involved in the scheme, Maria and one assistant manager (during the course of tough questioning by the auditor) admitted to knowing about the fraud. The company argued that Maria had a duty to report the fraud and consequently terminated her employment with BuyMart five months ago. The parties have been unable to settle the matter so the case is now proceeding to court.